How do birds fly?

Skeleton and Muscles Part 2

Ostriches, Emus, Kiwis and Penguins have something in common - they can't fly. Most of birds can fly and "HOW" they fly depends on their size and weight. Different types of birds fly in different ways. A bird can be identified when it is flying by how it is moving. Here's a video of birds in action. BBC - KS1 Science - How birds use their wings

Little birds only have little wings. Even though they are light-weight so they have to flap, and flap, all the time! Next time you see a little bird flying have a think about how difficult it must be to keep flapping so fast. Large birds like Buzzards have very large wings, but they are fairly heavy too. Buzzards flap their wings to get into the air. They then soar around using air thermals (hot air) to lift them up. So Buzzards don't have to do much flapping at all.

Can you predict how medium sized birds, like woodpeckers, fly? They actually "flap flap glide, flap flap glide". So they go up a little bit whilst flapping, glide down a little bit and then flap to go up again, making a pattern like a rollercoaster. There is another way that birds fly, and I call it "flapping with neck out". This is the best way to describe how birds like Swans, Geese, Herons and ducks fly. They flap their wings all the time and their neck sticks out in front - making a cross shape.

A flock of starlings

This is my favourite clip from Autumn Watch. How many starlings can you count?